The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is here to stay and businesses need to effectively combine technical skills with legal competency in order to become compliant, without losing control of the cost.  

But why is the GDPR such a big thing? What do businesses need to know beforehand? How can your business benefit from working with a data center in an EU country? Get all the answers below! 

The time is now 

As you may be aware, the new regulation is already in effect, yet officially it comes into force on May 2018. It “compliments” and practically replaces a relative Directive from 1995, which was long considered as outdated.  

In practice, it affects 3 different types of data:  

A. Unique online identifiers and location data of users.

B. Pseudonymous data: New type of data sets introduced by GDPR. They refer to personal data that have been hashed or encrypted in order not to identify a single individual without the need for additional information.  

C. Generic and biometric user data.   

The case of exporting data 

With the GDPR, in an effort to protect its citizens, the EU now prohibits transferring of personal data to a non-EU country. At the same time, it is a well - established practice for companies based outside the EU to export data to select locations with adequate protection infrastructure, such as: Andorra, Argentina, Canada, Switzerland, Faeroe Islands, Israel, Isle of Man, New Zealand, United States, Uruguay.  

However, this global digital exporting practice significantly increases costs, it requires a lot of resources, and under specific circumstances it can trigger significant security issues.  

The question now is: What can non-EU based organizations do in order to avoid high exporting costs, comply with the GDPR, and avoid data breaches?  

The answer to that is quite simple: They can use an EU based data center, like Lamda Hellix in Greece.  

Have a look at the benefits when compared to exporting data elsewhere:  

Data hygiene and efficient handling: Achieving high levels of data hygiene is crucial for companies to meet the requirements of GDPR. Having everything in order, well maintained, and looked after allows companies to manage data efficiently, protect users and deploy trustworthy applications and services.  

Ultimate data safety: Although security is definitely a thing of hygiene for data, we are making separate reference on this issue. According to GDPR, data breaches now have to be reported within 72 hours by data controllers, regulators, and affected data subjects. Failure to follow the process leads to fines up to $10m or 2% of total worldwide annual turnover!  

By choosing an advanced EU-based data center, companies eliminate the risks of fines for data breaches of any source.  

Talent, technology and attractive pricing: EU-based data centers, like ours in Greece, are presenting a blend of well - educated and experienced human capital, award winning facilities, advanced energy infrastructure, super - fast connections, customizable services, and attractive pricing!  

In other words, competencies that cannot be ignored.  

Do you still have questions over the benefits of collocation in the EU? Drop your questions here.